Recumbent - Playing with the roadies

OK, so maybe I was being a little childish, but it was just too much fun to resist :D.

On the commute in this morning, I was about 2/3 of the way up the last hill. I'm doing my regular thing, riding by cadence, so I'm spinning between 75 and 80 and going between 6 and 7. Along comes a roadie and passes me. No big deal; happens all the time. Yeah, the guy's standing up, but I just figured he wanted to get past so he could get out of traffic.

Now I'm not an impressive figure. I'm 50 and heavy, and I ride a Giro 20 with a full fairing and an aero trunk. I'm wearing my gym shorts and a cotton T-Shirt with a nerdy saying on it (Pi a la mode). I'm a transportation rider; a commuter. I'm also on the tail end of my 18 mile ride, about an hour and a half into it. The roadie is a younger fella, skinny, riding a fairly nice roadster with a single pannier on the back. He's in spandex kit. Again, not a big deal; I see dozens of these guys every day.

Well, he crests the hill and I follow shortly after. This hill crests onto a plateau, so we're now going on the flat. I gear up, still riding by cadence, and I'm passing the guy in a quarter mile or so. On the way by, I say good morning, which is more than he did to me when he passed.

Next thing I know, this guy is laying it on. He's running past me at speed, all the way out of his seat and cranking. Well, again it may have been childish, but I decided to let him know what a 'bent could do. I passed him again when I was going 20 and held the lead as we went up through 25. Eventually he ran down and fell back. He caught up to me at the next light and, when it changed, took off ahead again, but I passed him before the next light. After that, he held his position behind me.

Dang, I hadn't had that much fun in a while. Playing with the roadies is a good time! Being passed by an old fat guy on a fully loaded 'bent can't be good for his self image :lol:

Maybe he'll do a little research, then go bent himself.

Ever consider the guy was doing intervals

He was probably trying to boost your moral, as an elderly guy riding a recliner with wheels. Mission accomplished. :thumb:

I am not sure a fun time was had by all....you should have asked him if he was having fun............ :)

Dang, I hadn't had that much fun in a while. Playing with the roadies is a good time! Being passed by an old fat guy on a fully loaded 'bent can't be good for his self image :lol:

and I'm sure passing some younger guy on a less-efficient machine with a greater frontal area did lots for your self esteem.

Congratulations! :thumb:

Not that I haven't engaged in the same sh..tuff, but it's not always a race. Like merlin wrote, he could have been doing intervals, or he could have been at the tail end of a HARD ride and simply reached his cool-down point, or any of a thousand other reasons. Congrats for doing well on that stretch, but don't let it go to your head!

Please don't tease the roadies...;)

I hear you. I take every opportunity to pass DF riders. Some of them obviously don't know it's a race, but I have a good time anyway!
Mark

We all do it. It is a ton of fun and a good way to motivate oneself to push hard on a commute. I am always happy to speed past someone who is trying to keep up. I certainly don't care if they are doing intervals or at the end of a 80 mile training ride. It is all to motive myself.

I care about times and results in a TT, or real race, otherwise it is all about who has the wattage right NOW, Not 3 hours ago. Street showdowns are just sprints announced simply by contesting a pass. You can let your greater objective overrule your lizard brain or you can YALP your defiance and pour on the power.

I'm a roadie and I'd enjoy the challenge of a 'bent rider teasing me...and yes, I know how fast you guys can be. I'm past the stage of trying to look like a pro and I appreciate all forms of cycling.
In fact, these days between riding my "normal" bikes, tandem, MTB and *SWBs I'm looking forward to trying my son's 2 wheel 'bent which he is making for an engineering/energy breakthrough class at college.

* SWB= small wheel bikes

If someone did this to me, I'd quickly divert to a different route. It's creepy, I don't care if they do say hello when they pass.
As far as I know, the only cyclists who have tried to race me have been 10 year old boys on bmx bikes.

As a rider of both can appreciate the relative speed of both ... that said however, no matter which kind of bike I'm on I'm careful about making assumptions regarding the guy/gal who just passed or who I just passed ... examples .. been passed plenty while warming up .. not gonna respond and risk a strain on a non warmed leg .... been passed plenty at the end of 20 miles of intervals .. too wrung out to respond .... been passed plenty at the end of 50 hard miles ... ready to stop and eat. On the converse have passed plenty on my DF's and the 'bent but always keep in mind they may be in just one of the above situations .. best case resolution is when he/she comes along side and we ride together .. that happens plenty too ..

Cheers

+1 Zdrifter,
It's all about the ride, be happy, be safe.
Ken

Oh, I completely agree. I've had plenty of times when I've met up with (mostly) DF riders and we've had a nice conversation while we've gone along. There are a couple of guys on my ride in that I see fairly regularly and talk with quite often. Some days I'll ride off ahead and some days they will.

Guys like the one I played with, however, are another story. I'm a regular rider and I know the difference between someone riding intervals, doing training, etc. and someone who's just trying to prove they're faster/better than everyone else. This guy fell firmly into the second group. People doing training or at the end of their rides don't keep an eye over their shoulder and speed up when the guy behind them gets close. They don't jackrabbit off the line so they can take the path and then maneuver such that you have to ride wide to pass them. People who are training or at the end of long rides are, in my experience, much better riders.

In addition, *I* was the one at the end of the long ride. I'd been on the bike for between 1.5 and 2 hours, having ridden almost 18 miles and climbed nearly 1,400 feet. If anyone had an excuse, it was me.

Like I said, I was playing with the kid. I had fun. I think he wasn't having nearly as good a time as I was.

Hah! I know how you feel. It probably happens to us all. On a one day century at mile 75 or so I rode up and joined a roadie, then backed off and started talking to him about what a fantastic day and fantastic ride through norther Minn this one was. We talked for about ten minutes about several topics, then he said "that 'THING' does pretty well on the road!" I could see a hill coming up so I said to him "yeah, but not so great uphill" then rode away from him on the uphill stretch and till the next rest stop he stayed 1/2 mile behind. At the rest stop he came up and said "Wow, that bike really goes! I'm really impressed"

I really like my EZ Sport AX but don`t take on the roadies around here.I have clocked them at 30+.with my auto
Maybe you just got slow roadies or he did`t know he was in a race.

Haven't had that happen lately. I get passed by old Grannies on MTBs with knobbies towing a trailer with their oxygen bottle in it.

Generally speaking I have no problems with Roadies or any upright cyclists, I still ride a road bike after all, although not so much since I got my Giro 20!

I do seem to end up racing people, even though I don't mean to. It can be fun, like when I beat some guy going up a big hill. Granted he was on a mountain bike not a road bike but since the Giro isn't really designed as a racer either we were pretty evenly matched.

There is however a certain kind of cyclist that I hate, and that's a road hog. Like yesterday I was waiting for the lights to change so I could turn right, positioned at the front of the queue of traffic. Then some guy on a road bike comes up next to me on my right hand side, positioned just slightly back therefore creating the illusion that he would let me go first. Lights change, I start to launch off then he just shoots past me and cuts me up causing me to wobble like mad ( well ok wobbley starts are quite common but still...). Then he speeds off, mashing the pedals like mad to prove he's faster than me and I'm thinking how small is your penis!?

I sometimes overtake uprights, sometimes they overtake me, sometimes we race and take turns, as long as it's fun and noone's being an arsehole it's fine.

. I'm also on the tail end of my 18 mile ride, about an hour and a half into it.

Sub 12mph average is burning it up.

Dude, are you sure this actually happened? I mean, riding that hammock, you could have easily been asleep and dreaming. The last time I rode a hammock I got into a break with Lance and Jens...rode their wheel for 50km before reaching into my suitcase full of courage and jumping them at the line...then some big 18 wheeler blew his horn at me and woke me up...so I don't know if I won or not. :(

Sub 12mph average is burning it up.

Given that this is an urban commute with lots of lights and stop signs, that I happen to be one who obeys the law and actually stops at these intersections, and that those 18 miles include 1,400 feet of climbing, it's not a bad speed overall, no matter what you think. Further, I do this ride twice a day, 5 days a week (the ride home only has 1,000 feet of climbing, however). How many miles do you put in over the course of an average week?

The roadie apologists here are amazing. I was only saying that I had some fun nicking off a roadie who was obviously doing his best to beat me. Y'all are making all kinds of excuses for why he could be slow, calling me slow, and saying I must be delusional. Pathetic.

^^^ please don't perpetuate the stereotype that hammock jocks ain't got no sense of humor. ;) :p

^^^ please don't perpetuate the stereotype that hammock jocks ain't got no sense of humor. ;) :p
yea, roadies obviously have such good ones.
http://thewambulance.com/images/wambulance_logo.jpg

Yup even at 70 I have been known to play with a roadie. The ones in the full wanna be racer togs. On a long incline bike path here in town when I see one comming in the mirror, I click up a gear or two and lean a little harder on the pedals. This is especially good if riding into a good head wind. snicker snicker

Well I was a Roadie and one of the first Norba members
in my area. Raced, and led A+ 50 mile Club training rides twice
a week, so am used to suffering, and having a good go at it.

When I bought my TE/SS in 1994, I began taking it on my
A + club rides. You should have seen that ... On any given
Tues/Thurs, there would be anywhere from 15 -25 riders show
up. Now these Boy's weren't messing around. Two of my Bud's
are now time Trial Champs, and some others were Cat 2-3's.

So, off we go, Hellbent for leather averaging 22-25 mph,
for 40-50 miles. Now, since I was the ride leader, I always
chose a route that was favorable for the Tour Easy. At first,
the novelty factor amused everyone, after about 20 miles,
it began to wear off when my DF Bud's realized that they
were hanging off the back. I had to chuckle when I remembered
the picture of Gardner leading the pack on his TE back then. It
must have been a sight to see ... One red Recumbent, and 20
roadies drafting me at 24 mph. When I say drafting, I mean
5-6 inches apart. I must have looked like the 'Piper'
with all his little "meeses'

In S.Cental PA, there are a lot of rolling hills which are good
for a bent. Many of our rides are class-2/3. I discovered
on the first ride that I needed more gearing. I went with a
39-56 front, and a 11-30 on the rear with a deep Velocity
rim running a 150psi Conti GP. I added a Zipper fairing that
helped a LOT. So with this set-up, I had a real little rocket.
Downhills on my TE were amazing. Spun-out with big inch
gearing, 50-55mph was no problem. On the flats, maintaining
25-32 was easy if I was 'on' that day. Needless too say,
it gave eveyone a great workout.

On the rolling flats, I had very few challengers. On some
of the hills, it was a different story. It was pay-back time
baby, and my Bud's took no hostages. We raced, we paced on
the flats, we raced on the hills, we did intervals, and we even
time trialed.

None of us ever turned down an oppurtunity to hammer each
other into the ground, carried out in a Sportsman like fashion
of course.

So yeah, we challenged each other, and we all had a
great workout.

I miss my Tour Easy. I sold it to the Curator of the Smithsonian.
Some of my riding partners bought Bents, and many others
went on to win many National titles.

For now, I'll have to make-do with my Stratus until I find can another
Tour Easy SS.





Johnnybee.

Ordinarily I'm more pro-bent than nearly any roadie I know. I fully intend to one day own one myself (much to my wife's chagrin!), I'm always chatting up w/ the bent riders I meet on the road, and I'm happy to let them join my group rides. For those reasons I do my best not to get involved in these Bent vs DF pissing matches that spring up on internet forums every 2 or 3 hours.

But I'm sorry, when I read this

In addition, *I* was the one at the end of the long ride. I'd been on the bike for between 1.5 and 2 hours, having ridden almost 18 miles and climbed nearly 1,400 feet. If anyone had an excuse, it was me.

...all I can think is


(edit: well, really, does anything more need to be said?)

The numbers tell you the caliber of the rider, and likely the caliber of his competition, too. He's not anywhere near a pro. (Neither am I.) Take it for what it's worth, from his point of view. It it gives you a smug sense of satisfaction that you're better, that's cool. There's probably an equal number out there who read it and think, "Wow!" Personally, I think it's great that he has that much enthusiasm, regardless of how he compares to Lance(tm).